The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE recent revaluation of commercial properties around Clare has caused huge confusion, Councillor Pat Hayes claimed at Monday’s County Council meeting.
He said that there may be a need for further efforts to explain the situation to business people.
“There seems to be a huge degree of confusion in relation to the revaluation programme throughout the county. There may be a need for maybe more workshops or information evenings because there’s a lot of disquiet.”
Director of Finance Noeleen Fitzgerald said that much of the country was revalued before Clare, while she said that it will not result in any financial gain to the local authority.
“This is a project that rebalances the commercial rate income of all commercial rate properties in the county,” she explained.
“It does not generate any additional income to the county council, that is the first point. The second point is that it is effective in 2024, it is not effective in the current year or next year.”
She said that recent correspondence with business people from the Valuations Office (which is not under the Council’s remit) may have caused some confusion.
“The figure being quoted to ratepayers is the valuation of the property, it is not the commercial rate liability.
“You need to take that figure and multiply it by 0.25 or divide it by four to get an indicative figure of what your commercial rates liability could be.”
She said that around the country the process had seen reductions in rates for around 60% of businesses.
Ms Fitzgerald said that people had been approached regarding trading data of their business, but that if they had not provided it, they may have been given a figure not reflective of what their commercial rates liability should be. She said there is still a window of opportunity for such people to engage.
She said the Valuations Office actually won’t pass on any details regarding people’s valuations to the Council until next September.
In many cases, she said people have mistaken their rateable valuation for their rates liability, and were satisfied once they found out it was only a quarter of the sum they had thought.
However, she said there will be some increases due to the change, and that the new system is different to what went before.
“The old system that went back to the 1940s and 50s was based around square footage. This new system is based on the rent or valuation of your property or what is your business turnover, depending on the sector you are in.”
Councillor Joe Killeen criticised the level of communication from the Valuations Office, saying that they could have made it clear that the valuation does not equal the rates liability.
“The initial shock could have been avoided,” he observed.
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
